Visit with Don (aka The General) on various land use issues. Find out what he thinks about current topics related to recreation, land use or the environment.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Huge Turnout of OHVers for Carnegie SVRA/Tesla Public Meeting

Big Turnout of OHVers to Support Carnegie SVRA/Tesla

The Recreation HQ wants to commend all of the OHVers who
attended the “standing room only” public meeting in Pleasanton last night to
review the preferred concept for the Tesla property at Carnegie SVRA. I did a head count and there were approximately
300 people in attendance with the vast majority of them in support of OHV use
on Tesla.

Park Staff Talks with OHVers About Plan

As you know, a small number of hard-core anti-OHV members
of the extreme environmental movement (including one of the SVRA’s next door neighbors)
have conspired with the East Bay Regional Park District -- in a fraudulent disinformation
campaign -- to ban OHV use on the Tesla property that was purchased in the
1990s with OHV Trust Fund monies for dedicated motorized use. They had joined with the Sierra Club to try
and overrun the event with protesters, but they were outnumbered 6 or 7 to 1.

Preferred Concept Highlighted by Planning Staff

This much needed expansion would provide multiple-use OHV
trails (ATV, ROV, 4WD, and dirt-bike) on the new property. The current 1,500 acre riding area at the
SVRA would remain for mostly ATV and dirt-bike riding.

Tesla Will Provide Trails for ROVs

4WDs Will Also Have Trails at Tesla

I especially enjoyed seeing a large number of youth
riders who attended the meeting with their parents to support new OHV opportunities
on the Tesla site.

Chris Carter Talks with AMA- D36's Dave Pickett About the Project

HQ also wants to give a shout out to Chris Carter and his
leadership team at Motion Pro for attending the meeting in support of the
project. Chris continues to be an
inspiration to me and many other land-use advocates because of his over 30
years of unparalleled support for the fight.

HQ will be reviewing the preferred concept (which appears
to be a good compromise between OHV access and resource protection) and will
share our comments on the proposal in the next week or two. I will work with BRC’s HQ on an alert that
may help you in crafting your own comments in time to meet the December 13,
2013 public comment deadline.

4 comments:

Great turnout by OHV folks. Riders are learning about the government process, and what it takes to work with them, and to see face to face those people and organizations that wish to cause harm to our sport, spew out half truths, and face the enemy of OHV.Congrats on professionalism shown by our folks...........I was nice to see Chris Carter, owner and principal of MOTION PRO INDUSTRIES there in person, as well as dealers and industry folks.Chris has been a decades old supporter as a sponsor for these very same riders that ride in AMA D36 special events.Dave PickettD36 LAODave Pickett

The preferred concept is a huge sell out to our enemies. The green areas represent places where we can't ride but where our enemies can partake in non-OHV activities. Even parts of the Distributed riding areas will be off limits to OHV recreation when they get done finalizing their plans.

The money to purchase the land was bought with funds from the OHV trust fund and dedicated to OHV recreation by the legislature which approved of the purchase. We have been betrayed when 1/3 to 1/2 of the land is said to be inappropriate for OHV recreation. They had a duty to purchase land which is appropriate for OHV recreation. They should be sued to sell the land to developers and use the money for land where we can ride.

The general plan committee have been persuaded by Garamendi, Connolly and EBRPD (our enemies) that a large part of the park is too valuable for OHV recreation. If it is inappropriate for OHV recreation what makes it appropriate for other types of recreation which will require even more infrastructure and construction to make it amenable for the general public?

Why is a mining town that is just a heap of garbage, broken lumber and slag piles considered a unique historical site when coal is still the biggest source of energy in the world today. Coal is still being mined in this country and Tesla was never a major source of coal except for Stockton during a very short period of time. The coal mined at Tesla was not very abundant and it didn't take long for it to be depleted.

Also what makes our property unique as a place populated by a nomadic Indian tribe who wandered over land surrounding our park including Connolly's ranch, Lawrence Livermore, the wineries and the other general parks in the area? They were a hunter gatherer tribe and needed more than our measly three thousand acres to survive. This is just another one of Garamendi's myths that the committee has swallowed hook line and sinker.

Garamendi says that she feels a spiritual alliance with our land and wants to protect its unique features from OHV destruction. Let's see... her husband owns a nine thousand acre cattle ranch that borders our park. Is she saying that our park is like the Galabagos Islands where species are unique because they can not wander onto adjoining land and propagate. That is ridiculous, There is nothing unique about our land. Species found there can be found all throughout the coast range and the central valley. This didn't prevent massive construction along the I 580 corridor in recent years as we waited to get an EIR approved so that we could use our property. .

You can not get around ATVs on the single tracks at Carnegie without going off the trail (which is now illegal) and they crash into unsuspecting dirt bikes and shove them off the trails with their much bigger bulk and mass. In the past they were mostly confined to the canyon until our enemies convinced a judge to shut it down. We need to keep Carnegie exclusively for dirt bikes. A dirt biker was recently killed by a quad. They are a danger to themselves and to us.

They can have most of the trails in the new property along with the side by sides and four wheel drives.

The preferred concept is only acceptable to those who don't ride dirt bikes at Carnegie. We have been sold out by our supposed advocates, State Parks, the Division. But mostly we have been defeated by our neighbors whose great wealth and political connections obscures the very reason that the legislature created state vehicular recreation areas (for off-road recreation).

I guess the riders don't count for anything besides the thousands of out of state comments that Garamendi generated in opposition to OHV recreation in our park and the political opportunists at EBRPD. Sick.... And you support this grand theft...

I appreciate the comments from anonymous because I feel they represent a certain number of riders who feel disenfranchised by current and proposed management prescriptions for Carnegie SVRA.All I can say is that for myself… I am trying to do the best job I can… given the political, administrative, legal, and regulatory realities of trying to manage lands for motorized recreation in the 21st century. Thanks for taking time to share your concerns.

We appreciate everything you have done to benefit the off road community in California. You opened the book on EBRPD's relationship with Garamendi and attended all of their meetings. You spoke up to defend our right to ride and in our park.

There is only so much that can be done to defeat our enemies in high places who use their wealth and political influence to put a dent in legitimate OHV recreation in California.

You have a lot on your plate besides our local park We really think that you for everything. Nobody devotes longer hours to our cause than you.Keep up the good work and THANK YOU.

Learn About The General

Don is owner of Quiet Warrior Racing, a recreation, land-use, and political consulting company. Don is also a consultant to the BlueRibbon Coalition and serves as their western representative. Don has over 23 years in the field of recreation and land-use advocacy. Don served as a commissioner on the California Department of Parks and Recreation Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission from 1994-2000. Don has also served on many recreation stakeholder groups and advisory committees. Don served on the USDA Region 5 Recreation Resource Advisory Committee (2009 - 2014). Don has a BA from St. Mary’s College of California and belongs to the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals.